Turning Tables
by bmj97
Summary: Seventeen year old Alex Larkin is not very happy when her mom, Theresa, remarries to Jerry Russo. Her and her little brother Max is forced to move into his apartment and live with Jerry's annoying son Justin. As time goes along, though, could Alex start to develop feelings for her new stepbrother?... (AU, non-wizards)
1. Chapter 1

_Waverly Place._

Alex looked up at the green street sign with disgust as she climbed out of the taxi cab. Starting now, Waverly Place was gonna be her new "home".

Waverly Sub Station sat on the corner, customers going in and out the front double doors. It was unusually busy; Alex had been there enough times now to know that business was normally slow.

"This is gonna be so cool!" Her little brother, Max stood beside her, watching the restaurant as well. "Living in a sub station."

Alex rolled her eyes. "We're not living _in _the sub station. Just on top of it."

Max shrugged. It made no difference to him.

"Are you guys ready?" Alex's mother Theresa asked as she shut the trunk of the cab. She juggled a few bags of luggage. Alex forced herself not to help her with them as punishment to what her mother was doing; marrying and moving in with a balding man that had nothing but a sub station and one nerdy son. Why couldn't it have been a cute, young billionaire or something?

Max nodded eagerly and ran on ahead, the backpack he had on bouncing against his back. He was the exact opposite of Alex. He loved their mother's new husband Jerry, and his son, Justin. He found the sub place neat, and like to help out with the orders (though he didn't do a good job at it). Alex was kinda jealous, she wished she could be as happy about all of this like Max was.

"C'mon, Alex," Theresa said and Alex sighed, following her into the station.

It was noisy inside, the chattering of a few full tables filling the room. Alex could see Justin at one of them, taking the customers' orders. Through the little window that let you see into the kitchen, she saw Jerry, bent over a half made sandwich. Max was next to him, chattering away.

"I told him he shouldn't bother Jerry while he was working!" Theresa scoffed before turning to Alex. "Take these bags upstairs for me, please, _Mija_? While I get your brother?"

Alex rolled her eyes but took the luggage, heading to the spiral of steps that was to the right of the room. They lead her to her new home; a tiny apartment with ugly orange furniture. She dropped the bags next to the door, heading to the kitchen. Though she had tried to avoid this place as much as possible, Theresa had dragged her there enough for her to feel comfortable about stealing food from the fridge.

There was a carton of ice cream, which was good enough for her. She grabbed a spoon and dug in, not bothering with a bowl.

Alex looked around the apartment, which was quiet with only her in it. She felt sad, lonely, betrayed, annoyed, and anger all at once. She already missed her own little house where just her, Theresa, and Max had lived in. Why did her mother have to get married? It messed up everything.

Alex shook her head at herself, closing and throwing away the now empty ice cream carton. There was only one person she wanted, and that person was gone.

The front door of the apartment swung open then, and in came Jerry followed by Theresa, Justin, and Max.

"We did so well tonight!" Jerry was saying to Theresa, who held onto her new husband's arm. Alex scrunched her nose up at that.

"Who ate my ice cream?" Justin stood over the trash bin.

"I did!" Alex announced, smiling over at Justin. It was funny (and easy) to annoy him.

"That was mine," he grumbled. "Don't you know it is impolite to go through people's refrigerators?"

Alex shrugged. "Well, I figured since I'm now _living _here, it would be okay to have a little ice cream."

Justin opened his mouth to protest, but Jerry interrupted. "She's right, Justin. She's family now, they all are. We can get more ice cream." He looked over at Alex and smiled apolegetically.

She returned the smile, laughing inside. Jerry didn't get her sarcasm and rebellion just yet. She could tell she was gonna have a bit of fun with him for a while.

"Now Max, Alex, Theresa," Jerry said. "I just want you guys to know how happy Justin and I are to have you here. I'm excited for us to start our lives as a family."

"Oh, Jerry," Theresa said and she reached up to kiss him.

Alex looked away, glancing over at Justin. He was looking down at the floor, away from the kissing couple as well. Obviously, he wasn't too happy about this either.

Max interrupted the quietness. "Where's my room?"

Jerry and Theresa pulled away from each other. "That's right. I have to show you your rooms. Come with me."

The five of them headed upstairs where there was a tiny hall with a few doors on both sides.

"This one," Jerry knocked on the first door the left, "is mine and Theresa's room. The one across from it is the bathroom."

"And now, the one next to the bathroom is Max's."

"Yes!" Max said, shoving past everyone and opening the door.

"Where's mine?" Alex then asked. The sooner she got moved into her own, personal space the better.

Jerry and Theresa glanced at each other. "Well, _Mija_, we have a bit of a surprise for you and Justin..." Theresa started.

"What?" Justin asked, his forehead creasing. "Dad?"

"You know we're short one room," Jerry sighed. "So you and Alex are going to have to share yours."

Alex gasped out loud, looking over at Justin with a face of disgust. She had to share a room with _him_? Could it get any worse?

"Why can't Max share with me?" Justin demanded.

"We've already moved and set up his bed in his room," Jerry explained. "And since you two are the oldest, we figured you could handle it like mature, responsible adults." Theresa nodded in agreement.

"I'd rather sleep on the floor," Alex snapped. "Or even outside."

"Alex..." Theresa said in a warning tone.

"You've ruined my life!" Alex said, pointing at her mother. "You _all _have!"

She ran past them and out the hall, leaving the other three in stunned silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Alex sat at a booth in the eerily dark sub station, her head resting on the cool surface of the table. She had been sitting there long enough to silently cry a good amount of tears. She was done, but didn't feel like getting up to face everyone upstairs.

She felt embarrassed for crying. She was usually tough and steady, and not one to get emotional and teary. But everything that had happened the past few years, from her real father's death when she was ten to her mother remarrying, had just finally crashed down on her and caused her to break.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She sat up in the booth, squinting her eyes. In the dull darkness, she could make out Justin coming towards her.

_Justin_? Why not her mom? Why was he the one that came for her? What was he going to do, make fun of her for crying like a baby or kick her out of his room and onto the living room couch?

"Hey," he said as he sat down across from her at the booth. "Are you okay?"

Alex blinked. That was really unexpected. "I guess."

"Sorry," Justin said.

"For what?"

Justin shook his head. "I don't know. Look, I don't mind sharing my room with you. And I know you're not exactly thrilled about it, but I won't get in your way or anything."

Alex was suspicious. What was with the nice words all of a sudden? "What kind of game are you playing?"

"Game?" Justin scoffed. "I'm not playing a game! I'm trying to get along, you know, since we're going to be living together and siblings all all that."

"You're not my brother," Alex blurted out.

Justin sighed. "Let's just pretend we like each other, this marriage, and the living together thing, for the sake of our parents. You love your mom, right?"

Alex shrugged.

"Of course you do. And I love Dad. And honestly, your mom's pretty nice, and Max is sorta cool, too. And our parents are happy together, so let's just let them be. Arguing is only gonna make it harder on everyone."

Though Alex hated to admit it, Justin was right. "Fine."

"Alright," Justin nodded. "Now, come back upstairs. Dad made spaghetti."

"I love spaghetti," Alex said, getting up from the booth.

"Me, too." Justin smiled.

They made their way to the steps. Alex couldn't help but notice the picture that hung on the wall beside the front counter. It was a few years old, of Jerry and Justin and then two other people; a woman who she knew was Jerry's first wife and Justin's mother, and Daly, Justin's little brother who had somehow died a while ago.

Alex had always itched to ask what had happened to him, but had never found the right time. Now, after her and Justin made peace and were getting along pretty okay, seemed like an alright time.

"Hey, Justin?" Alex paused at the counter, pointing a finger at the photograph. "Your little brother, Daly, right?"

Justin looked anywhere but the picture. "Yeah?"

"What happened? To him, I mean."

Justin cleared his throat. "Pool accident. He drowned."

"Wow. I'm sorry." Alex couldn't even imagine losing her own little brother.

"Let's just get upstairs, I'm hungry," Justin said briskly and he started to climb up the stairs. Alex groaned inwardly. She had upset him with the question. She shouldn't even had asked.

She followed Justin up the steps and to the door that lead to inside the apartment. Justin hesitated a moment before going in, turning towards Alex.

"What happened to your dad?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The question hit Alex hard, and images of _"that night" _started to swim in her mnd, clouding her thoughts. She shook her head, flinging the images out. "Uh, car accident."

"Oh," Justin said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. It's fine," Alex shrugged. "It was a long time ago. I'm over it."

Justin nodded, though he didn't look convinced.

Desperate to escape the awkwardness that hung in the air, she gestured towards the door. "Are we gonna go in or..."

"Oh, yeah," Justin nodded and he pushed opened the door.

They were greeted by the "Hey!" of Jerry and Theresa, who sat on the couch watching television, and the smell of spaghetti.

Alex and Justin sat and ate their dinner quietly at the table. The silence was slightly unbearable, but at least they weren't bickering like usual.

As soon as she was done with her dinner, Alex headed upstairs to her new shared room. She had never been in it before whenever she'd visited, Justin hadn't allowed her to.

It was a pretty decent size, fortunately. One bed was to the left of the room, and the other was in front of her (**A/N: Think Stephanie and DJ's room in Full House**). The one to the left was her's; she could tell from the pile of luggage stacked on top of it. The sight of that made her groan. She still had to unpack!

But unpacking and putting stuff away, or anything else that required more than a little movement, wasn't Alex's thing. So she pushed the luggage off onto the floor, letting it fall before she flopped face down onto the bed.

It was comfortable and fluffy, she had to admit. Though It couldn't have been too late in the evening, she was already so tired and decided that she'd just lay there until she finally fell asleep.

As she closed her eyes, the door of the room swung open and she heard someone come in. _Probably Justin_, she thought.

But the voice that spoke wasn't him. "Alex!"

Alex sighed and rolled over to get a good look at her little brother. "What is it, Max?"

"I was just looking for you." Max looked around the room. "Is this _your _room? I can't believe they gave you two beds!"

Alex stared at him. Obviously, he wasn't the brightest color in the crayon box, and it never failed to astound her. "I'm sharing this room with Justin."

"Oh," Max said. "I thought I recognized his stuff." He gestured with his arms towards Justin's bed and bookshelves.

Alex scowled. "Good-bye, Max."

Max hesitated like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. "Okay."

Just as Max went out, Justin came in. Alex watched as he went over and sat on his own bed, pulling a backpack from beneath it. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, homework," Justin answered absently as he pulled papers and folders from the bag.

"In the middle of July?"

"Well, yes. I signed up for this program that gives you work to do during the summer," he explained.

"I try to avoid school work during the school year. Why do you want in the during the _summer_?"

"It's good for college applications," Justin said, rolling his eyes.

Alex shook her head. _What a nerd_, she thought.


End file.
